⛳️ Our Picks For Waste Management
Good afternoon! Welcome to Shanks. This week is the reason half of you are here and we have good news. We will be doing another WM Open Giveaway for next year. All you need to do to enter is be a Shanks reader. That means if you’re reading this, you’ve got a chance. We will provide more details on next years opportunity when we have them, but this is something people were really excited about and we want to do it every year going forward as a thank-you to our readers.
A special shout out to Kellan M who won this years giveaway and is taking a buddy out to the desert as we speak. Good luck dude!
Golf Trivia: What’s the scoring record at the WM Open?
Answer at the bottom of the email.
Here's what we've got for ya today:
- Doin Lines: Waste Management Open
- LIV Had It’s Best Weekend
- Small Golf Biz Blowing Up
- Shots Heard Round The World
- Thing We’d Buy If We Weren’t Broke
Doin Lines: Waste Management
🚩 Location: TPC Scottsdale
💰 Purse: $8.8M -$1.58M to first.
👑 Previous Winner: Scottie Scheffler
👀 Watch On: Golf Channel, NBC.
The WM Open Field & How To Watch
The Peoples Open is finally here.
Last week, I lead off with some song lyrics from Scorpions. This week, all I can think of is “That Smell” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
This is, after all, the one glorious weekend of the year where golf fans descend upon Scottsdale and unleash a drunken tempest that leaves soiled undies and empty beer cups in its wake.
It’s beautiful.
In case you need a reminder of that (more so the beer than the underwear), just rewatch the Sam Ryder hole in one again, or Tiger’s - the one that started it all.
This week is not a signature event, believe it or not, so that means we have a large field of 132 players and a cut. Also beautiful.
Now let’s take a look at the field, which features 27 of the top 50 in OWGR.
That number should’ve been a little higher, but Viktor Hovland and Xander Schaufele both dropped out.
The best in the field:
Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Brian Harman, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Tom Kim, and Sam Burns.
View Full Field and Tee Times Here.
How To Watch
- Thursday, Feb. 8: 4-8 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
- Friday, Feb. 9: 4-8 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
- Saturday, Feb. 10: 1-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3-6 p.m. ET (NBC)
- Sunday, Feb. 11: 1-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3-6 p.m. ET (NBC)
Previous Winners
2020 – Webb Simpson
2021 – Brooks Koepka
2022 – Scottie
2023 - Scottie
Shanks Picks
Last week, with Pebble being shortened to 54 holes, things got a little weird, depending on what side of it you were on. Hopefully, no weather issues this week.
Winner: Justin Thomas +1000 + 25% Odds Boost
Slight caveat here. Which is that JT was our pick last week and we rarely double up, especially on a favorite, but his recent form and past history at the WM Open has us liking him again.
Plus, there’s a 25% Odds Boost available on BetMGM we can use. Details below.
Top Five: Sahith Theegala +650
Something tells me that Min Woo Lee or Sahith Theegala will be in contention come Sunday. The very spirit of the event demands that it’s showman perform and we’ve no choice but to roll with one of them, or both.
Top Ten: JT Poston +300
We’ve talked multiple times about how good JT Poston is with his putter, but he’s also gained on approach in 8 of his last 10 starts. He also has a history of decent performances here, besides last years MC.
Top Twenty: Tom Hoge +300
TPC Scottsdale rewards excellent ball striking. Tom Hoge is top of the field when it comes to iron play and SG: APP so far this year.
Longshot: Kurt Kitiyama +6600
Kurt has also gained on approach in five straight events. Anyone notice a theme here?
25% ODDS BOOST
Our friends at BetMGM are offering a 25% odds boost on PGA bets. Plus, if you don't have an account at BetMGM yet, use the link below and bet $5 to get $158!
Yes, you can use the sign up Bonus Bet on the Superbowl, if you want, not just golf.
- Sign up for BetMGM here.
- Place your bet.
- Bet $5 get $158 instantly in bonus bets.
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LIV Had It’s Best Weekend
As you can see, LIV’s best weekend still fell far short of the PGAT’s numbers at Pebble, about 11x less viewers for LIV head to head on Saturday.
You can also see there was an increase in viewership for LIV on Sunday with the final round at Pebble being cancelled.
The replay of the third round at Pebble, which was played on TV Sunday, still got 1.2M viewers, while LIV’s final round received 432k. That’s replay vs. live action.
Year over year, LIV Mayakoba received about 100k more viewers this in 2024 than they did in 2023.
It will be interesting to see how their event in Vegas this weekend compares to the WM Open numbers.
Small Golf Biz Blowing Up
This is a story that we’ve been following for a few months on Twitter and we are stoked to share it here. It all started with this tweet from Tyler Johnson below.
In October, Tyler shared that tweet. At the time, he had about 178 people on his waitlist to buy some awesome looking kids bags.
The tweet got a ton of traction and Tyler continued to be transparent on social media, showing himself and his family packing orders from their garage.
Now, just a few months later, he shared they have crossed over 3,000 pre-orders for their kids golf bag. Just incredible stuff.
It’s been awesome to watch them build a golf business in real time in just a few months. We love a good small business success story.
Shots Heard Round The World
JUSTIN THOMAS SAYS NOT SO FAST TO LIV PROS
Thing We'd Buy If We Weren't Broke
We’re at the precipice of sheer sports bliss. It’s a time where the Super Bowl shares space with the world’s most vibrant and lively golf tournament. And what a way to celebrate the WM Open’s boisterous spirit than with some gear for the most cerebral part of the game, putting.
That’s right, it’s the freaking “Party in the Desert” putter grip brought to you by the team SuperStroke. You’re going to want to get your hands on this fast, because this thing may be sold out by the time you even click over to their site.
If that doesn’t work, you can still get your fix by sporting this dope “Party in the Desert” tee.
Trivia Answer: -28
That’s all folks! See you Saturday Morning.
